Dong Zhuo's behavior of killing ministers and cracking down on local tyrants forced the local tyrants of Lingling County and Guiyang County to unite tightly around Liu Bei, hoping to stop Dong Zhuo's army from moving south.

The northern counties of Lingling County have been occupied by Dong Zhuo, and the local tyrants there have had their homes raided, their property confiscated, and the land distributed to the people who had migrated from Jiangbei, and they had developed a serious fear of Dong Zhuo's forces.

The county is surrounded by mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and can only be preserved by superior terrain.

Wei Xu led the army south, putting a lot of pressure on the local tyrants of the two counties, which made them strengthen their support for Liu Bei.

Jiang Wan, who was appointed as the county governor of Lingling County, assisted in the management of government affairs and strengthened the rule of the local government; Liu Yong, Liu Min, Yang Huai and others were appointed as military commanders to expand the army and prepare for war; Liu Xian was the county governor of Guiyang County.

Wei Xu is a northerner, and most of his officers and soldiers are northerners, most of the cavalry are from the border counties of Bingzhou, and most of the infantry are from Wei County and Jiyin County, which is extremely unsuitable for the humid and hot climate of the southern region, and it is located in a hilly area, with many mountains and rivers, so it cannot give full play to the advantages of cavalry, so Wei Xu attacked very carefully.

He led his troops along the eastern part of Changsha County, the place where Yuzhang County was handed over, he had a selfish intention, in case of defeat, he would flee to Yuzhang County nearby, he believed that Liu Bei would not dare to cross the border to pursue.

He first took over the county seat of Chaling and used it as a rear base, and then occupied the county seat of Shanyin in Guiyang County as a war merit in the south; In fact, there were no garrisons in Shanyin County, and the county commander had already fled, and at least a third of the people had fled, which was regarded as taking over an empty city.

He also took over Rongling in Changsha County as a base for advancing and prepared to launch an attack on Leiyang County.

Guiyang County is vast and sparsely populated, and the distance between the county towns is very long, so he must advance step by step, and he must be foolproof, otherwise there will be an accident and he will not be able to rescue.

The eastern part of Leiyang is high mountains and hills, and the distance from Chaling and Rongling is very far, and the roads are rugged and difficult to travel.

Liu Yong suggested that if Wei Xu dared to continue to go south, he could destroy his vanguard in Leiyang County by relying on favorable terrain, and he would definitely not dare to continue the attack.

Liu Bei vetoed his suggestion, now he must train the army first and strengthen his own strength, otherwise it will attract more troops, so Liu Bei decided to send someone to persuade Wei Xu, even if Wei Xu can't come to vote, he must maintain the current situation and buy time for his development.

Jian Yong very much supports Liu Bei's opinion, if there is no war now, there will be no war, and stability must be the mainstay, and there is external pressure in order to gain greater support from the local tyrants of the two counties; So he took the initiative to ask Ying and went to persuade Wei Xu.

Liu Bei readily agreed.

Wei Xu was very surprised by Jian Yong's arrival, but they had known each other as early as when they were in Luoyang, so they were still warmly welcomed.

After the banquet, Jian Yong had a long talk with Wei Xu.

For Jian Yong's persuasion, Wei Xu laughed at it.

Jian Yong saw that Wei Xu was unmoved, so he said: "The Zhonglang of your army will become Lian and die in Wancheng, what reward does the court have for his family?" How is his family doing? Doesn't the general think about his family? ”

Wei Xu retorted: "Haha, the Taishi is not thin on Cheng Lian's family, and rewards his descendants with a manor, enough to eat and drink, doesn't Xianhe know about this?" ”

Jian Yong said sarcastically: "Haha, the general is short-sighted! These manors are the things of the lord, now the Taishi is surrounded on all sides, there is only one county left, if the Taishi is defeated, the lord of the manor will come to take over the manor, won't Chenglian's wife live on the streets? ”

Wei Xu was speechless.

Jian Yong continued: "We only need to have skirmishes from time to time, try our best to avoid casualties, and be able to deal with the Taishi, so why bother to work for the Taishi? If the Taishi is defeated, the general can also leave a way back, why not do it? ”

Wei Xu was very moved by Jian Yong's words, but he couldn't respond casually, so he retorted: "Haha, it is the duty of soldiers to fight, if there is no war, how can officers and soldiers get foreign money to support their families?" ”

Jian Yong knew that Wei Xu was blackmailing, so he gritted his teeth and said: "If the general can adopt Yongzhi's suggestion and prevent the people from being ravaged by the war, Uncle Liu Huang is willing to give thousands of yuan every month, so that the general can reward the officers and soldiers." ”

Wei Xu smiled: "Hahaha, Uncle Liu Huang is really generous, there are 20,000 soldiers and horses, and the monthly material consumption alone is a lot of days, just a thousand times, how convenient is it to take yourself?" ”

Jian Yong also felt that Qianguan was too little, so he said: "Four thousand, no more, otherwise Uncle Liu Huang would rather fight." ”

Wei Xu was overjoyed and said with a smile: "Hahaha, the successive officers and soldiers have thanked Uncle Liu Huang for his reward in advance." ”

The two sides reached an agreement, and Jian Yong was very happy to return to Lingling County; Liu Bei was very happy about this agreement, which could buy time for his development, and with Wei Xu stationed on the border, those local tyrants could take out more money and food to support him to expand his army, but he was very distressed about spending so much money every month.

Wei Xu reached an agreement with Jian Yong, immediately strengthened the management of the surrounding counties, firmly controlled his subordinates, and sent people to Luling County and Yuzhang County to carry out activities, wanting to make friends with the two counties and leave a way back for himself, he is not optimistic about Liu Bei, there are only two barren counties, how can he develop?

When Jian Yong sent the copper coins for the first month, he took out some of them to improve the lives of officers and soldiers, and the rest of the money was secretly transported by him to Luling County and Yuzhang County, where he bought land on a large scale and prepared to build a manor.

At the same time, the families of his cronies and soldiers were secretly brought from Changsha County and arranged for Daoluling County and Yuzhang County.

He plundered the local tyrants in several counties, distributed their land to the soldiers, and asked the soldiers to bring their families from Changsha County to live; In order to confuse the imperial court, he reported everything he had done in several counties to Li Ru, and sent back to Changsha nearly 30,000 yuan and a large number of other valuable materials.

Li Ru acquiesced to Wei Xu's behavior and did not stop him from picking up the soldiers' families to the south; The land vacated by the soldiers' families could be divided among other people for cultivation, which increased the taxes of the imperial court; Due to the large number of people who migrated from Luoyang and Jiangbei, the population around Changsha was dense, and the arable land was insufficient, Wei Xu's actions catered to the psychology of the imperial court, and also covered up the fact that Wei Xu moved his relatives and families to Luling County and Yuzhang County.

The Taishou of Luling County and Yuzhang County quickly reported the matter of Wei Xu to the Prefecture Mu Qin Pass.

After Qin Guan discussed with Liu Ye, he not only completely agreed with Wei Xu's approach, but also sent someone to take the initiative to contact Wei Xu, hoping to trade with Wei Xu, so as to befriend Wei Xu and prepare for the surrender of Wei Xu in the future.

Wei Xu was naturally pleased with Jiangdong's overtures, and immediately agreed to trade with Jiangdong, so that he could earn more money and food.

With Liu Bei's patronage and Qin Guan's support, Wei Xu also became bolder, dismissed the old and weak or wounded in the army, and gave them a part of the cultivated land, or arranged them to work on the newly purchased land, or arranged them to serve in the Taoist caravan, and recruited some young and strong people from the local area to make up the difference; Now is a period of war, he does not dare to eat empty salary, only with the army can he have confidence, he only hates the small number of officers and soldiers who can be raised.

The officers and soldiers recruited from the local area are not only young, but also physically strong, and are better able to adapt to the local climate and terrain, and can also strengthen their control over several counties, which has many advantages.

Wei Xu's trade with Jiangdong not only pleased the people of several local counties, but in his opinion, it was also one of the measures to make Jiangdong good.

Liu Bei also benefited from it, being able to buy the materials they urgently needed, prosper business, increase taxes, and strengthen his own strength, while befriending local tyrants and getting more help; The local tyrants of the two counties formed caravans and trafficked materials to Yizhou or Jiaozhou, which were more farther away, and obtained huge profits.

All forces rejoiced.